III. Shut Yourself in or Have a Coffee Break

Modern Fictitious(or not) Earth 20xx – z(?)

Knock Knock Knock!

“Sweetie, you in there?” –the mother knocked at the door of her daughter.

The daughter was at her late teenage years and just graduated high school. Leaving the life she built up and the people she made connections with at a faraway town while studying her high school days. She had to return to her parents back to the main city just as she promised. After that she have shut herself inside her room for months already.

“Come on in.” –her mother heard a faint answer from inside.

The door was not locked. The girl was should not be hiding some shady things from her parents. She seemed to have thrown everything else away but still kept her good relationship with her parents.

The mother opened the door.

An unpleasant smell immediately burst out of the room just with the smallest gap from the opening door.

“Uwaaah! What have you been raising here?!”

The smell was a mix of rotten eggs, spoiled food, sweaty socks, molded bread, garbage truck and a rotting corpse. That was the exaggeration that her mother thought once she smelled that inside of the room.

It had not been a week yet since she helped her daughter clean the room. The neat and tidy presentable room that she have left in her daughter’s care days ago had turned into a disastrous cradle which housed every lousy smell a person’s nose would reject smelling.

The blinds of the room were pulled down, not letting any single ray of light to come in from the outside, considering the time of the afternoon. There were scattered chips all over the floor. The bottles of soda are lined up by the wall. There had been a mix of stained, used clothes and even underwear lying on the floor, at the bed, and at her desk. She could not even bother putting them at the laundry basket so she just threw them at any direction whenever she finishes changing.

“Geez… You could at least pull the blinds up. Playing with the lights off will be harmful for your eyes.”

The mother went towards the direction of the window while avoiding to step on something as much.

The lights of the room were off. The light of the crt tv was the only light source inside the room, besides from the light coming from outside the just-opened door. The girl could be seen sitting at the floor and slouching at the very front of the tv. She was wearing her anti-radiation-lensed glasses that her mother have paid for her. At front of her was a game console that could be considered a huge hit during those times.

“I’ve always told you…” –her mother kicked any random trash that’s at where her foot was supposed to land, she assured that the way she kicked the trash will flew and land towards her ‘how-did-become-useless’ daughter

“…to always put your trash to the proper place.”

Some of them hit the girl, but she didn’t even budge, she could not afford to. She had the hundred percent of her concentration poured towards the game she was playing.

“…can’t. I’m too busy…” –the girl answered in respect.

“Come now, what would hurt to pause a little. If you keep on doing this even I will have a hard time helping you clean your room. I mean…” –her mother finally reached the window and pulled the blinds up. “…look at this!!”

Light from the outside finally entered the room, the devil’s cradle.

Every evidence that the room had been extremely untidy and dirty had been exposed.

The once free little girl who always wanted to just be outside to explore new things, was now a shut-in.

“Fine fine… I’ll help you clean the room later. Just let me reach the save point.”

During the modern age of internet, most RPG games that are being released require internet to play. You would always be able to save your progress when you logoff and you could return to your character to continue. But while in game, because it’s something that you needed internet to play, you can’t just pause in the heat of the action and then tell your teammates that you’re taking a break because your mother popped in the room and was asking you to cleanup first. That’s one of the advantages of games that doesn’t rely on internet. You could just press the start button: you’re game is halted. The game won’t be bothered even if you take quite a while to return to it, just don’t ever have a power outage or someone accidentally tripped at the cord and turn off the console.

“Come on just pause the game already!” –her mother knew how it worked.

The girl saw no point on prolonging their argument any further. Her mother was not a very techy person to begin with but at least she knew something as trivial as ‘pushing the start button will pause the game’. No more further arguments.

She stood up, then started helping her mother to clean up.

“You know you’re still not at the point where you being a shut-in couldn’t be saved anymore. Why not hang out outside?”

“I see no reason too.”

“First of all you have refused to attend college even though we should be able to afford it, then you suddenly locked yourself inside our house for months already. You’ve never even tried to visit your high school friends. They’ve been contacting me since they knew you’ve came back.”

The girl silently continued picking up pieces of trash which she didn’t even botherted to clean for the past days. Some of them were left and thrown unfinished and were forming molds already. She grimaced after seeing the product of her lazyness and negligence but again, she can’t argue back.

“I’m... I’m just trying to loosen up a little.”

“For the love of god, it’s nearly a year already! Get your act together. This is so not like you.”

The girl continued to get scolded by her mother as the two of them continued to clean up the room. It was supposed to be a quick job now that there’s the two of them but the talking had been taking up quite some time too.

After quite some time the cleaning of the room was nearly finished. There were only the huge trashbags left inside that’s waiting to get thrown outside the house at the trash pickup station at the end of their street.

“You’ve missed them so much don’t you?”

“Yea...”

“You could always visit your cousin and your friends there if you wanted. We could pay a vacation at the hot springs, which would be nice.”

The girl had a social life back at the faraway town where she attended her high school. She had gotten too used to living with them for the past three years. She had been known, loved and respected equally so it was only natural that she’ll come to love them just as much too.

The town was not really something out of her reach like those foreign faraway lands from fairy tales and such. In fact, she could just drop by anytime and visit them just to say ‘Hello guys, I’ve missed you so much! So I come to hang out.’

But she have already said her farewell.

She decided to leave whatever she have built up there for good. There’s no just popping out now to say ‘Miss ya’ guys.’ It would really feel like farewell and legacy won’t amount to anything anymore if she did that.

“But as much as I would like to I just can’t.”

“I see...”

Her mother understood what she was trying to say with just few words. The mother could give her better advice and suggestions but she chose to have her daughter stick to the decisions she have made regarding to her high school days. The daughter’s decision were not really the wisest and best compared to the mother’s standards so they won’t have negative impact on her actions.

“But still, compared to when you were younger, you have lost a lot of that free-spirited kid you are which always had a tendency to be curious and adventurous.”

“Well a lot has happened. It’s just that… Life’s just too normal here that nothing new have piqued my interest… not yet.”

“Well…”

Her mother picked up that last thing that was lying at the floor which was her underwear. She put one of her arms at her waist and swung the piece of cloth at the other.

“…This news might interest you.”

“Ahg, please don’t say that while swinging my underwear. That really embarrasses me, you know?”

“Oh don’t mind this, just listen to what I have to say.”

“I kind of guessed there’s something up. Just get it over with and put that underwear at the laundry already.”

The mother was not sure if her daughter was just bluffing her or she was really certain. She wondered if her daughter accidentally dropped an ear when she talked to her uncle over the phone. That night before.

“You see, your uncle ‘x’ have called last night. He’s been telling stories about having heard a story about a legendary person at a town from the west.”

“Ahhh…”

The girl knew where the story was headed. The girl knew how the story of her past have reached her uncle. The girl also knew her uncle’s background, so she have summed up what her mother was about to say.

“He was asking if you’re interested to join the military.”

The mother cut to the chase.

---

Modern Earth, 20xy

“So, what do you think of my story?!”

“Totally ridiculous.”

“Eeeeh?!”

Old man was tidying up his work station.

“Where do you plan to go after this? Come on let’s drink like old days!”

Seria had been persuading Old man to accompany her for a good night’s drink. The night was still young. They have completed all their pending tasks for the day and was about to go home. They were not the only ones left at the office during that time but still there would be no point in staying any longer. It won’t be paid so having an overtime would just be a waste of time unless it would be justified.

“No, I have to get home early or my wife would be furious.”

“Oh please quit it with your ‘non-existent’ wife stories and stop being a killjoy. I still have lots of stories on my mind that I wanted Fred to draw mangas with.”

“That’s rude. I have a wife and a daughter. And also those stories, you should tell Fred, not to me.”

Old man showed signs of avoiding the topic and the invitation to drink. It won’t do him any good if she would go out drinking with a work colleague till morning while having a wife waiting back at his house. The best course of action was to flat out reject the invitation and just go whenever he would have available after-work hours without his wife thinking hard over him having an affair with some drinking buddy at an unknown bar.

“Tcheh! And here I’ve spent a lot of time and effort telling a good story.”

“Eh? You’re still hung up on that?”

Old man reached out for his bag. He put his laptop to a hibernated status and turned off the mini lamp at his desk.

Near his desk was Seria standing with her hand bag. She was about to go too. Unlike Old man who likes to finish his tasks from the get go, Seria established her own pacing. While it is true that they both accomplish given tasks on time, having different approaches developed different working routines for the two of them.

With that being said, Seria just completing the work she allotted to herself for the day at an earlier time, had a lot of free time to bother the still working Old man and told him stories like telling tales.

Old man, walking towards the exit, took a final glance towards Seria sitting at the chair of the station beside his. Their colleague that sits there was not available at that time so Seria took the spot and enjoyed bothering him all the time he started finishing his job.

“What, you gonna’ wait there until some ghost appears that will lend you an ear on your stories?”

“Sigh… Fine, fine, coming.”

---

The two entered the elevator. Their office was located at the tenth floor of one of the tall (but not tallest) buildings at the city. The building had been constructed there for quite a while already, but it had been really functional the past years. The elevators were not exactly the newest gens which goes up and down quickly so descending inside it at the tenth floor towards the ground floor still took a span of seconds to minutes, depending on the number of people going in and out per floors. But that time of the day it was just the two of them.

“…”

“…”

The inside of the elevator was not really totally silent. There was a faint sound of the suspension wires that was holding the elevator as it was suspended, the sound of wind at the gaps of the elevator itself and the elevator shaft as the elevator continued to slide down and the sound of the open spaces of the floors which the elevator passes could be heard.

After a few more seconds the two finally reached the ground floor. The elevator door opened and there was someone waiting at the ground floor. Not for them of course but to go upstairs. The two of them awkwardly went off of it and started walking towards the abbey of the building.

After reaching the huge glass door of the building Seria started talking again.

“You really know it, don’t you?”

“About what?”

“About Fred’s second (third) draft.”

“Yea, why have you made a rash decision about it anyways, knowing that that there might be a chance that the series might not sell?”

“It’s a bet that I’ve placed on him. I think that might be the difference between us too. You’re far too perfectionist.”

The air between them suddenly became serious as Seria opened up something of a high importance.

“I could talk up till the station, I guess I could keep you company up to there. But I really could not join you for the drink, spare me this night.” –Old man told her and started walking at the direction towards the station.

“Hmmm. Okay then.”

It was just as Seria have told. One of the reasons why Fred could not start another serialization was because Old man had been wringing out his brain for the best he could offer him. It’s true that having a solid and unique story would secure a large reader base and long serialization, but it would be pointless if the author himself won’t be able to produce it due to the pressure that the editor had been pushing onto him.

Seria was implying that there had been a miss on Old man’s guidance of Fred.

“Fred is just starting out his career. Yes he have experienced a five month serialization but I really think that won’t be enough experience to wield something on a criteria that would fit your requirements should take him a decade or so of experience. I mean, look at the big three, those mangas about pirates, ninjas and grim reapers. Do you really think the authors of these works started big time already? It took them years of experience too just to build up a steady base on their series.”

Old man continued to walk. He was not being scolded but rather, having given some advice by his once life coach but now on the same footing as him.

“It’s just that… I just realized it too after being assigned to Anemone.”

Seria skipped past him like a child and blocked his walking path. She suddenly faced towards him and leaned her body forward to him. Her usual formal clothing was too fit to her well-developed sister or mother figure that leaning just a little bit forward will have the buttons of her tight suit seemed to pop anytime. Old man, a married literally old man, blushed and sinned.

“I’ve seen Fred’s potential and I knew you’ve seen it too. It’s just that it’s not really the right thing to force a potential out of someone. You develop alongside experience with perfect timing.”

Seria was not the type to rush things immediately to produce fast results. It had always been her norm to take everything at a steady pace and produce quality results. Old man knew she was always like that. Not too long ago he was just still her assistant but now he was on the same level as hers. He should have been pressured to produce results like Seria did. That should be the reason why he had pushed not only Fred but also the previous authors he have been assigned with to produce best results. Well he had been producing better results but those were not the best. And just like what happened with Fred, he had been assigned to multiple authors already due to that attitude.

“…Perhaps you could be the one to bring out Fred’s full potential as an author.”

“Jeez hey now, just don’t kill the mood! Don’t down yourself to much as you still have a lot of experience to still earn. It should make you grow better on this career.”

“Hmp. Getting too cocky and showing your vast experience, huh?”

Old man quickly recovered. The way he acted at first was unprofessional so he decided to make up to Seria by showing off all of his uncertainties. At the first place it was his decision to grow even more of this field of expertise so he’s not on any position to turn down any advice from fellow editors, especially from her previous senior.

“HA HA HA!! That’s more like it!”

I guess she’s back to her usual self, huh?

“So…”

“So…?”

“Let’s go back to the story a while ago”

SIGH!!

“You bringing that up again?! Just how much do you wanted to let this story out of you?!”

“Now now! What would it hurt to just get along?! I thought you’re accompanying me up till the station? It’s a man’s duty to always keep a woman company.”

“Don’t make that sound like we’re at bed or something! It’s embarrassing!”

The two of them finally caught the attention of the bystanders. Trying to break through the commotion, Old man started walking fast and passed Seria who was seductively looking at him. Seria regained her proper posture and followed him as he just killed the mood. The commotion was over, it’s time for the stars to leave. The bystanders resumed what they’re supposed to be doing.

“Well… If you were to ask me, being accepted at the military will add up spice of the story.”

Seria gave a smug.

Old man suddenly spoke up and started talking editor language. At long last he finally shared took the bait and started to take interest on the stories Seria had been telling. It was not like he was prepared to fully entertain Seria’s interests until she tells all of the stories she had on her mind or she’s fed up with the topic. He just needed to prolong the conversation until he reaches the station.

“But what is the plot supposed to be? Is this something you came up as a background story of the character on Fred’s second(third) draft? Or is this something completely different.”

“Hmm… Never came across my mind.”

“Also I suppose these are two different stories. Or is this just a part of a single character’s background?”

“Hmm, what should I say… Even I cannot confirm.” –Seria was wearing her poker face.

“Gehg! What a bummer.”

“What decision do you want the little girl to have? Did she joined the military or she refused her uncle’s offer. I could at least come up with two different stories to tell you, one for each decision.”

“Hmmm… Let’s see, what would become of her if she were enlisted at the military… The president’s personal body guard?”

“I know, I know! A spy sent to assassinate a highest general of a foreign country.”

“Or maybe some legendary enforcer, a leader of a riot squad.”

The two continued to walk towards the direction they were headed.